Thank you, Dr. Heimlich

BBC notes the passing of Dr Henry Heimlich, who invented and popularized the idea of clearing the airway by squeezing the pit of the stomach below the chest (instead of pounding on the back). AKA The Heimlich maneuver.

photo credit AP

Dr Heimlich invented the lifesaving technique, which uses abdominal thrusts to clear a person's airway, in 1974.phh
In May he used the technique himself to save a woman at his retirement home.
He dislodged a piece of meat with a bone in it from the airway of an 87-year-old woman, telling the BBC: "I didn't know I really could do it until the other day."...

Since the technique was introduced in 1974 it is believed to have saved the lives of more than 100,000 people in the US alone.
They include former President Ronald Reagan, pop star Cher, former New York mayor Edward Koch and Hollywood actors Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau, Carrie Fisher, Jack Lemmon and Marlene Dietrich.
In 2014 actor Clint Eastwood was credited with saving the life of a golf tournament director in California who was choking on a piece of cheese.
In the UK, celebrity promoter Simon Cowell was reportedly saved by comedian David Walliams, who carried out the Heimlich manoeuvre on him after a mint became stuck in his throat.